Walgreens cancels some appointments for second doses of COVID-19 vaccine, leaving people scrambling

Ashley J. Dearborn had been looking forward to her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, which was scheduled weeks ago and supposed to take place Tuesday afternoon at a Gold Coast Walgreens.

But she awoke to an unpleasant surprise Tuesday morning: an email from Walgreens canceling her appointment. She called the store and learned it only had the Moderna vaccine, not Pfizer, which she needed to match her first dose, she said.

“I freaked out because I thought, ‘How can you cancel? It’s less than 24 hours,’” said Dearborn, 58, of the Near West Side. “I have to go through this whole merry-go-round, Hunger Games scenario again” to make an appointment.

A number of others who made appointments at Walgreens are finding themselves in similar predicaments, scrambling to find the same brand of vaccine for their second dose as their first. People should get the same type of vaccine for both doses except in “exceptional situations,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The issue appears to be affecting people who made their first and second appointments at different Walgreens stores, even though they booked the appointments at the same time. Often, those individuals weren’t given the option of booking both vaccines at the same store. Walgreens doesn’t typically tell people which vaccine they’re getting when they make their appointments online.

Walgreens identified the scheduling issue that was causing the problem earlier this month, and has since resolved it, spokeswoman Kris Lathan said Tuesday. Walgreens is now only booking people for first and second dose vaccination appointments at the same store, and the pharmacy chain has been “proactively engaging” with affected patients, she said.

“We apologize for the inconvenience to patients and are committed to honoring all appointments and providing second doses,” Lathan said in an email.

But some people who made appointments before the scheduling problem was fixed say they have been left to search largely on their own for second doses of the vaccine. Second doses are supposed to be given within six weeks of first doses, a time frame recommended by the CDC.

The issue comes after reports that some Chicago Walgreens stores were turning away people with health conditions.

Deerfield-based Walgreens has the largest coronavirus vaccination program of any pharmacy in Illinois, with more than 500 stores giving the shots.

In some cases, people aren’t finding out that their second doses are the wrong type of vaccine until they arrive at the stores for their appointments.

Pete Rangel, 47 of Brookfield, drove to a Hainesville Walgreens for his second dose appointment Sunday only to learn that the store was giving Pfizer vaccines, not the Moderna shot he needed.

A stressful afternoon ensued.

An employee at the Hainesville pharmacy called other stores to see if any of them could give Rangel the Moderna shot that day. Rangel was put on a waitlist at a McHenry store, and provided a list of nearby stores to try.

Rangel spent most of the afternoon driving to different stores and calling them from his car, while his wife called Walgreens’ main customer service number. The person who spoke to his wife, on the main Walgreens number, offered no help, he said.

Finally, Rangel called a Beach Park Walgreens store that said it had a Moderna dose he could have that day. He drove another 40 minutes to that store and received the vaccine.

“It was very frustrating for me,” Rangel said. “I was just running around like a crazy person for half the day stressed out about trying to get the second shot.”

He was eager to get the shot so he could fly in his parents, whom he hasn’t seen since Christmas 2019, for a visit.

“It’s kind of infuriating that this is a known problem and it seems like something that could be easily fixed,” Rangel said.

Naperville resident Charles Damianides realized he was going to have a problem getting his second Pfizer shot when he took his son to a Bolingbrook Walgreens for the vaccine. It was the same store where Damianides, 58, was scheduled to get his second dose. He noticed the store gave his son a Moderna vaccine.

He later called the Bolingbrook store to make sure his second shot would be Pfizer, and the store said it would not. He called the main Walgreens customer service number but said he wasn’t given any help.

“I was freaking out,” Damianides said. “I was sort of stuck.”

He spent much of Friday on his computer searching for another appointment. He also called the Aurora Walgreens where he received his first dose and was put on a waiting list for extra Pfizer vaccines. The pharmacist there told him it was a long list but worth trying.

Ultimately, the Aurora Walgreens called him and he received his second shot of the Pfizer vaccine there Friday.

“It turned out great, but only through me doing all this phone calling and checking online,” Damianides said. “If I hadn’t taken my son to that same pharmacy where I was supposed to get my second dose I would have just showed up to that one and wouldn’t have known what to do.”

Dearborn, the Chicago woman whose appointment was canceled Tuesday, found an appointment for a second dose — but not at Walgreens.

She called the Cook County Health vaccine hotline and has an appointment for Wednesday.

She is grateful to have found a second shot, which will allow her to more safely help care for her 99-year-old godmother.

“I think that the logistics of the vaccinations, it just hasn’t been well thought out,” she said.